


Beat The Heat

by rinwins



Category: Problem Sleuth (Webcomic)
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, POV Second Person, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-19
Updated: 2013-07-19
Packaged: 2017-12-20 17:50:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/890105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinwins/pseuds/rinwins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dame and Broad just can't catch a break with the weather in this city.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beat The Heat

**Author's Note:**

> Something of a companion piece to [Cold Snap Snuggle](http://archiveofourown.org/works/712332).

You are HYSTERICAL DAME and you are pretty sure you’re going to melt.

You hope summers in the real city aren’t always like this. Last summer wasn’t. Last summer was balmy, maybe a little muggy when the sun was at its highest, but overall tolerable. Maybe even pleasant, when the breeze picked up in the evenings and the pavements started to cool. This summer is not any of those things. This summer there’s no breeze and the heat clings to everything, so thick you can practically feel it sticking to your skin.

And that’s why you’ve been in the bathtub for the past half hour, with a fan pointed at you and the radio propped on a chair within arm’s reach.

Somewhere else in the apartment, you hear the phone ring. You briefly hope it’s Sleuth. Then you hope it isn’t, because if it is you’ll want to talk to him and you don’t think the phone receiver will reach into the bathroom. And you’re certainly not getting out of the tub. If you’re going to melt you’re damn well going to do it in a contained space.

You hear Broad pick up the phone. “Hello,” she says, and then, “Oh, hello, Sleuth.” You groan a little and reach over to turn the radio off. Broad seems to have decided to take the message for you, though, because you hear her vague little ‘hm’ noises and then there are footsteps and she sticks her head through the door.

“The boys want to take us out tonight,” she reports. “What do you think?”

You consider. “Can we go somewhere with better fans?” you say.

She gives you a look of rueful solidarity. “I’ll take that as a vote of interest.”

Her head disappears back around the door and you hear her footsteps go back to the phone. There’s a short bit of conversation and you hear Broad giggle- you swear Sleuth’s one-liners are the cheesiest things you’ve ever heard, but somehow he can get nearly anyone to laugh at them. Then the footsteps move away again. You sink down further into the tub and rest your head against the cool surface of the edge.

The city’s unusually quiet in the heat. You hear a few birds, a passing car or so, occasionally a shout in the street below- not a patch on what usually comes through when the window’s open. It’s almost like being in the imaginary city again. Except the imaginary city was never this hot.

A noticeable fraction of the water has evaporated by the time you lift your head again. You’re running some more, as cold as possible, when Broad peeks around the door again. She’s got a pitcher, already starting to condense water along the outside, and two glasses. “Can I come in?” she says.

You make a face at her. “You can get in the tub if you want,” you reply.

She doesn’t, actually, but she does perch on the edge with her feet in the cool water. She’s been hanging around the apartment in just her underthings. You don’t care even that much, not when it’s just the two of you, but you’re sure not going to hassle Broad about her modesty when she doesn’t mention your lack of it.

She pours carefully into the two glasses and hands one to you. “Iced tea?” you say.

She gives you her best conspiratorial eyebrow-waggle. You think she’s been practicing it. “Not entirely,” she replies.

You take a sip and taste the familiar cool sting of gin. “You’re an angel, Broad.”

“Oh, I hope not,” she says. “I’d hate to wear feathers in this heat.”


End file.
